Tea + Music

Often when I’m drinking Gong Fu I’ll try to pick an album to play in the background to match the overall tone of the session – usually something fairly calm/mellow that works as a consistent backdrop. Iron & Wine, Lorde, Jack Johnson, and Glass Animals are all current favourites dependent on the tea I’m drinking/vibe I’m going for.

I also quite often will do individual tea and song pairings where I’ll pre-select a song to listen to while I drink a mug of Western prepared tea. Usually I’ll try to match the tone of the singers voice/beat to the kind of vibes I either get already when drinking the tea or that I want to enhance the feeling of during the tasting. I like to think of those kind of curated ‘pairings’ as enhancing both the tea and song in the same way that a tea and food pairing might bring out different things in both beverage and dish that change how one would be experienced individually.

Some Examples:

https://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/369051#likes

https://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/368606#likes

https://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/369384#likes

Roswell, I was just listening to Glass Animals yesterday! I guess my answer to the original question would be that I drink tea all day and listen to music all day, or else as much as possible, especially in the NY winters when I’m inside more.

Ahhh, tea and Morrissey/The Smith’s.

Steve

Emancipator, Lo-Fi playlist, general jazz or meditation or chillstep music.

Here are three musicians and musical moments for tea ceremonies.

1: For tea rejuvenation and pure joy.
Pascananita – Luzmila Carpio (Ballet PEDRO POVEDA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdN9NB4RXSY

2: For tea harmony, blessings and refreshment.
Krishna Das – Sri Argala Stotram – Show Me Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igsoFGv-Dw0

3: For spiritual tea enlightenment and awakening.
Shakuhachi [The Japanese Flute] – Kohachiro Miyata (Full)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miUKO5g0ONk

Have a fantastic tea day.
www.adrainfreedman.com

Tea and 80’s heavy metal!

I’m fond of listening to extreme metal while I do gongfu sessions (things like black metal, death metal, war metal, sludge, etc.) or hard rock, classic heavy metal, progressive metal/rock, psychedelia, jazz, classical, or film music. It just depends on my mood or how long I plan on being. It’s not uncommon for me to switch up among various genres or listen to more than one record over the course of a tea session. If I’m just lounging on the couch or sitting at my kitchen table drinking a few glasses of tea while I kill time, I usually listen to older thrash and speed metal, old hardcore punk, new wave, or older alternative/indie rock.